Hey hey...

It's been a while.

I have been pretty quiet online compared to the last few years...

Facebook I barely use these days, my blog has been sparce so far this year. I haven't posted anything I said I would over the last few posts... YES that's right I am CRAP!!!

Truth of the matter is, I have been super busy offline and rarely get chance to get myself sat in front of a computer. So on this rare occasion I am going to cover what would normally be a few posts in one, that's if you are happy to listen to me blabber on about my life offline recently...

Vegan or Veggie?

Either Way I am Still Trying To Eat Healthy

So strictly sticking to things is not my bag long term. I am the kind of guy who will give anything a go and try my damndest to stick to something but not always stay 100% of the time. The little devil on the other shoulder sometimes shouts louder and other times I am just plain forgetful!!

So, as per my few posts here I transitioned from being a part time Vegetarian to Vegan last year. Did I stick to it 100%?

No!! In a word.

I did solidly for at least 6 months and 90% of the time I still do. When I am at home I control it better and generally only buy vegan products but occasionally the odd shop bought pizza slips in when in a rush (however there are some good vegan alternatives when available).

When I am out, most of the time the choices are there but on occasions I have found it limited, even with the emergence of Vegan fever, and this is when I struggle and may go for a Veggie option instead (there are only so many vegan burgers or curries you can eat).

I still haven't eaten meat for well over 18 months (the last time a drunken chicken kebab my brother kindly winds me up about all the time), and I have still been creating and cooking some really good Vegan meals but as I tend to make things up as I go along I forget to write down how I have made it and the ingredients. Yes I am CRAP again.... But as you can see below I am still at it :)

Crispy Potato Salad
Vegan Lasagne
Vegan Lasagne with Crispy Potato Salad

Skating...

Yes The Pink Ones Are Mine :)

So...

Skating and swimming have been pretty much the only exercise apart from the occasional short run...

Why?

Because this stupid finger aaaaargh... I have been having physio now for months and it's getting frustrating. Soft tissue damage apparently takes a lot longer to heal than a break or a fracture! I never believed this but now I am finding out it is true.

As soon as it feels good and you are on the mend, you wake up to a finger that you can barely move in the morning! So I cancelled my gym as all I could do there was cardio and leg work zzzZZZ. I get enough of that from what I do now. I still have a load of kickboxing gear I bought that I have not used yet too (I am really missing it).

Anyway, this section is about skating and not about me moaning about this stupid finger!!!

Sorry have I told you about my finger?? :)

Great news is, both myself and my daughter are coming along nicely with the skating. We have now both passed level 1 and 2 and are now working towards level 3.

Although the lessons are geared up more towards roller skating as opposed to my chosen inline skating so I myself may stop the les sons soon and just support my daughter who is absolutely loving her quad life...

Very Pleased With Grade 1
Honest We Were Pleased With Grade 2

I will of course carry on and probably still skate once a week after her lesson is finished with her in the public skate at the terrific Midland Rolle r Arena.

If anyone is interested in lessons for them or their kids I highly recommend Leicester Granby Artistic Roller Skating Club

Home Improvements...

So I said I had been busy and boy I wasn't kidding.

I decided one weekend when the weather wasn't particularly good to..... well..... destroy my kitchen. I had woke up that day with the intent of getting outside and tackling my mahooosive back garden but in typical British fashion the rain came pouring down and I was stuck for something to do.

The hammer and bolster came out and about 20 minutes later this happened.....

Well I have kinda got a plan and some sort of order of what I need to do in my kitchen (well at least I should have with 20 years in the industry). As I am doing this myself and funds are limited then I will be taking my time and slowly doing this bit by bit.

I am pretty sure I can deal with the slow progress while I turn my attention to the afore mentioned back garden, now that some semi good weather has arrived...

And onto the garden......

Last years veg growing was a learning curve and the first year I had ever tried to grow anything. I loved it but.... Weeds weeds weeds far too many weeds.

My patch as much as I tried to keep on top of it last year just sprouted weeds that seemed like hourly.... So what shall I do about it??? I had made a decision early into this year and before sowing season that I was way too adventurous last term with what I wanted to do and so this year I would cut back on what I would grow and even potentially not grow anything while I worked on minimising my work.

The decision was to cover the ground and then build more planters to grow and seperate my veg, salad and fruits.... As you can see I have made a start on stoning the area and I have also added a water system in. The next stage is to cover completely with stone and build the new planters (when funds become available)

Oh you couldn't be happy with just the top of the garden could you Kelvin??

Nope!!! I jumped to the bottom end of the garden and decided to dig borders in and spend money on sleepers, money of which would have gone toward finishing the top end off!

So now I need to dig the sleepers in and cover the borders with weed control... Talk about multitasking lol....

Anyway my ongoing project will probably take me most of this summer so I may not get chance to write another post and certainly not one as long as this one... Thankyou for sticking with me :)

The Mighty Hike....

As my previous post will show I loved my first experience last year in The Peak District. I managed to hike around 11 miles that day from memory... Remember that number for later.

Well in the last couple of months I revisited this beautiful part of the UK but a different part of it. See my piccies below.

I plan to go there again in the next couple of weeks to get some training in....

Training he says, training for what I here you ask?

Well I have not really done any sort of challenges this year and not really set any goals due to time constraints and injury etc.... Yes he mentioned that bloody finger again!!!

Spotted The Hiking Poles Have You??

Well in a little under 2 months is my 40th birthday, yes I know that's hard to believe but I really am hitting the big Four 'O' this year.

Now I have never really been one to celebrate my birthday so this year I decided to dedicate my day to charity....

There is a charity that has helped someone close to me that I want to raise money for and that charity is Macmillan Cancer Support.

What is it I am doing?? If you have pieced together the clues in my post so far you may have realised what it is I am doing.

So..... on my 40th Birthday, my 14,610th day on this planet (yes I am sad enough to have worked it out including leap years before anyone tries to get clever) I will be taking to the Peaks once more...

Remember the number I said from earlier??

11 right... I won't be hiking 11 miles, well technically I will, but I will be hiking 26 miles over the beautiful, hilly and rocky terrains for my chosen charity... Now going back to the non birthday celebrating, even though I am not a fan of my own cake day, my family / friends still get me gifts or give me money every year but this year I have asked them if they could sponsor me instead....

So I think that's about it for my blabbering today, thank you if you made it this far, I appreciate everyone who reads my chatter... Plus it's time to stop as that finger is playing up! Yes I mentioned it again :)

Peace

Kelvin...

Thank You For Donating

P.S. If you would like to support me on my Mighty Hike please click the logo to take you through to my fundraising page.

Every penny counts for this wonderful charity.

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kelvinwood